diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 40dfe59f5c..36666d0607 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ valgrind-*.log
 /libnm-glib/tests/test-remote-settings-client
 /src/tests/test-dcb
 /src/tests/test-dhcp-options
+/src/tests/test-general
 /src/tests/test-ip4-config
 /src/tests/test-ip6-config
 /src/tests/test-policy-hosts
diff --git a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
index ffd706c27a..c5824d73c6 100644
--- a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
+++ b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
@@ -695,3 +695,63 @@ nm_utils_match_connection (GSList *connections,
 	return best_match;
 }
 
+/* nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64:
+ *
+ * A wrapper for g_ascii_strtoll, that checks whether the whole string
+ * can be successfully converted to a number and is within a given
+ * range. On any error, @fallback will be returned and @errno will be set
+ * to a non-zero value. Check @errno for errors. Any trailing or leading
+ * (ascii) white space is ignored and the functions is locale independent.
+ *
+ * The function is guaranteed to return a value between @min and @max
+ * (included) or @fallback. Also, the parsing is rather strict, it does
+ * not allow for any unrecognized characters, except leading and trailing
+ * white space.
+ **/
+gint64
+nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64 (const char *str, guint base, gint64 min, gint64 max, gint64 fallback)
+{
+	gint64 v;
+	char *end;
+	char *str_free = NULL;
+
+	if (str) {
+		while (str[0] && g_ascii_isspace (str[0]))
+			str++;
+	}
+	if (!str || !str[0]) {
+		errno = EINVAL;
+		return fallback;
+	}
+
+	if (g_ascii_isspace (str[strlen (str) - 1])) {
+		str_free = g_strdup (str);
+		g_strstrip (str_free);
+		str = str_free;
+	}
+
+	errno = 0;
+	v = g_ascii_strtoll (str, &end, base);
+
+	if (errno != 0) {
+		g_free (str_free);
+		return fallback;
+	}
+
+	if (end[0] != 0) {
+		g_free (str_free);
+		errno = EINVAL;
+		return fallback;
+	}
+
+	g_free (str_free);
+	if (v > max || v < min) {
+		errno = ERANGE;
+		return fallback;
+	}
+
+	return v;
+}
+
+
+
diff --git a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
index 06058a5612..7e62b71aed 100644
--- a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
+++ b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
@@ -94,4 +94,6 @@ NMConnection *nm_utils_match_connection (GSList *connections,
                                          NMUtilsMatchFilterFunc match_filter_func,
                                          gpointer match_filter_data);
 
+gint64 nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64 (const char *str, guint base, gint64 min, gint64 max, gint64 fallback);
+
 #endif /* NETWORK_MANAGER_UTILS_H */
diff --git a/src/tests/Makefile.am b/src/tests/Makefile.am
index eaa9d516fc..eef2650bd5 100644
--- a/src/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS = \
 
 noinst_PROGRAMS = \
 	test-dhcp-options \
+	test-general \
 	test-policy-hosts \
 	test-wifi-ap-utils \
 	test-ip4-config \
@@ -80,6 +81,14 @@ test_resolvconf_capture_SOURCES = \
 test_resolvconf_capture_LDADD = \
 	$(top_builddir)/src/libNetworkManager.la
 
+####### general test #######
+
+test_general_SOURCES = \
+	test-general.c
+
+test_general_LDADD = \
+	$(top_builddir)/src/libNetworkManager.la
+
 ####### secret agent interface test #######
 
 EXTRA_DIST = test-secret-agent.py
@@ -94,4 +103,5 @@ check-local: test-dhcp-options test-policy-hosts test-wifi-ap-utils test-ip4-con
 	$(abs_builddir)/test-ip6-config
 	$(abs_builddir)/test-dcb
 	$(abs_builddir)/test-resolvconf-capture
+	$(abs_builddir)/test-general
 
diff --git a/src/tests/test-general.c b/src/tests/test-general.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..649653c75e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tests/test-general.c
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/* -*- Mode: C; tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: t; c-basic-offset: 4 -*- */
+/*
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
+ * any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ */
+
+#include <glib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+#include "NetworkManagerUtils.h"
+
+
+static void
+test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (const char *str, guint base, gint64 min,
+                                     gint64 max, gint64 fallback, int exp_errno,
+                                     gint64 exp_val)
+{
+	gint64 v;
+
+	errno = 0;
+	v = nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64 (str, base, min, max, fallback);
+	g_assert_cmpint (errno, ==, exp_errno);
+	g_assert_cmpint (v, ==, exp_val);
+}
+
+static void
+test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64 (void)
+{
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do ("4711", 10, 0, 10000, -1, 0, 4711);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do ("", 10, 0, 10000, -1, EINVAL, -1);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (NULL, 10, 0, 10000, -1, EINVAL, -1);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 1x ", 10, 0, 10000, -1, EINVAL, -1);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 10000 ", 10, 0, 10000, -1, 0, 10000);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 10001 ", 10, 0, 10000, -1, ERANGE, -1);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 0xFF ", 16, 0, 10000, -1, 0, 255);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" FF ", 16, 0, 10000, -1, 0, 255);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" FF ", 10, 0, 10000, -2, EINVAL, -2);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 9223372036854775807 ", 10, 0, G_MAXINT64, -2, 0, G_MAXINT64);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF ", 16, 0, G_MAXINT64, -2, 0, G_MAXINT64);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF ", 16, 0, G_MAXINT64, -2, 0, G_MAXINT64);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" 9223372036854775808 ", 10, 0, G_MAXINT64, -2, ERANGE, -2);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" -9223372036854775808 ", 10, G_MININT64, 0, -2, 0, G_MININT64);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" -9223372036854775808 ", 10, G_MININT64+1, 0, -2, ERANGE, -2);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do (" -9223372036854775809 ", 10, G_MININT64, 0, -2, ERANGE, -2);
+	test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64_do ("\r\n\t10000\t\n\t\n", 10, 0, 10000, -1, 0, 10000);
+}
+
+/*******************************************/
+
+int
+main (int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	g_test_init (&argc, &argv, NULL);
+
+	g_type_init ();
+
+	g_test_add_func ("/general/nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64", test_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64);
+
+	return g_test_run ();
+}
+